Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    By Xinhua writers Jiang Xufeng and Cheng Yunjie

    BEIJING, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Although the chill the financial crisis has sent down the spines of many in China, in the Christmas season some experts have found cheer in the economy's prospects.

    Zhuang Jian, senior economist with the Asian Development Bank's China Resident Mission, said China had weathered many difficult times since reform and opening up began 30 years ago and "was also able to escape the jaws of the financial crisis this time".

    With the deepening of the financial and economic crisis, the export-driven Chinese economy saw its export slide 2.2 percent year on year last month, the first monthly decline since June 2001, trailing its first monthly fiscal revenue decrease for 12 years this October.

    What is also slowing the pace is the country's utilization of foreign direct investment (FDI). It declined 36.52 percent year on year in November to 5.322 billion U.S. dollars.

    To slow the economic downturn, China rolled out a stimulus program of 4 trillion yuan (586 billion U.S. dollars) last month, cut interest rates five times since September to pump up growth, and unveiled a real estate stimulus package last week.

    Lansi Jiang, vice president of Volvo (China) Investment Co., Ltd. told Xinhua some of her friends from foreign-funded companies compared the stimulus program and other stimulating measures to the "fireworks in the Beijing Olympics" which brought hope to people.

    She pointed out that China took the crisis as a good time for economic restructuring and would lay more importance on sustainable development, energy saving and environmental protection, adding that her company already had many projects in these areas in China.

    Zhang Yansheng, head of the foreign economic research institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning body, said as the effects of Chinese government's macro-management policies gradually surfaced, the world's fourth largest economy might recover in the second half of next year, sooner than other major economies.